The spanking new Winnipeg Jets logos didn’t exactly bowl over some former players who had worn the old one so proudly.

The local NHL team unveiled three new logos on Friday, with the main one a silver fighter jet on top of a red maple leaf surrounded by a blue circle with a silver lining.

“My first reaction was that I thought it was kind of too round,” former Jets captain Ab McDonald said. “I would say you’ve got to get used to it. Eventually, people will get used to it and say, ‘It’s good.’”

But forgive McDonald if he prefers the original logo.

“We were so used to wearing them and seeing them,” he said. “I even had people from Chicago that wanted some old jerseys and that and I took some down to them. But keeping the name (Jets) was the more important thing.”

The new logo got a thumbs up from Thomas Steen.

Steen on board

“I like it,” said Steen, now a city councillor. “I like the red leaf and the jet plane. I like the simplicity of it and I like the colours. It’s going to be very nice.

“I’m just so grateful that they are called the Jets. Just give them a new logo and make it exciting.”

Merchandise bearing the new logos went on sale immediately after the team unveiled the logo on its website at 4 p.m. The lineup went around the block.

“I’m going to have to go down there and get some stuff,” Steen said. “I need a new hat and I’ll have to get some shirts.”

Former Jets netminder Joe Daley responded to the new designs with a verbal shrug.

“Does it really matter?” he asked. “I’m more concerned with who’s going to be in the jerseys than what they’re wearing. But opinions are like butt-holes — we’ve all got one — but it really doesn’t matter to me.

“I don’t know if they’re trying to do the patriotic thing with the maple leaf but I’m too old to get excited about it.”

Daley, who operates a sports card shop in town, did admit he is still emotionally attached to the Jets past but is looking forward to the franchise’s new era.

“As a fan, I just want to see good hockey out there, but I guess the colours are nice and different,” he said. “People are still interested in (Jets) stuff from the past … but I sense that this team wants to create its own history and heritage.”

Former Jets forward Scott Arniel, back in Winnipeg after his first year as head coach of the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets, had not seen the new logo as of Friday evening.

“But I’m sure they did a good job,” said Arniel, also a former Manitoba Moose head man. “They’ve handled everything professionally so far.”